News

Saturday News, May 5th

Auto Accident Sends Two to Hospital

(Le Mars) -- A head-on collision at the 600 block of Lincoln Avenue last evening sent two people to the hospital. The accident happened about 10 o'clock. The Le Mars Fire and Rescue along with the Le Mars Police and the Le Mars Ambulance responded to that accident. The Le Mars Police is investigating that accident and a report has not yet been issued.

Strong Storms Hit Northwest Iowa

(Le Mars) -- What started as a nice Friday afternoon quickly turned into a stormy and even scary day as severe thunderstorms and tornado sightings were reported in northwest Iowa at Sioux, O'Brien, Cherokee, and Clay counties. The storm developed quickly with severe weather warnings that had been issued at about 3:00 p.m. and continuing until 4:30 p.m. Sioux County sheriff'sdepartment confirmed a tornado did touch down. Heavy rains produced some isolated street flooding in Le Mars as an inch of rain fell within 30 minutes. Damage reports are mainly of down power lines and tree limbs. Reports of walnut sized hail was reported in northern Plymouth county. The afternoon storms were responsible for a semi-truck and trailer to be overturned near Sioux Center. At about 3:20 p.m. a Kenworth semi-truck and trailer driven by 67 year old Cheryl McClintic of Tyndall, South Dakota was thrown on its side. McClintic pulled into the parking lot of Natural Food Holdings when the wind gusts blew over the vehicle. McClintic suffered minor injuries and was transported to the Sioux Center hospital. In O'Brien county, a tornado was sighted between Primghar and Archer, and damage was limited to down trees and some roof damage. Yesterday, may have been round one as the National Weather Service says there is the potential for more severe storms to occur later this evening.

Gehlen Exceeds Goal With Meals for Honduras

(Le Mars) -- 150,120...that's how many meals were packaged yesterday when Gehlen Catholic students, Opportunities Unlimited clients, and community volunteers conducted it's "Then Feed Just One" program. Those meals that consist of rice, soy, dried vegetables and a chicken flavored powder containing vitamins and minerals will be shipped to Honduras. Event coordinator Dick Sievert is pleased with the effort. He says the group had a goal of packaging 130,000 meals.

Sioux Center Opens New Event Center

(SIOUX CENTER) -- With the hope of growth, Sioux Center has a new event center, and a celebration was held on Thursday to introduce it to the public. Terrace View Event Center is located south of town, adjacent to the golf course, with access to the facility off of highway 75 in the South Ridge Estates Commercial Park. With beautiful views of the golf course, center coordinator Jennifer Vermeer says that the facility has a lot to offer.

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Last weekend the facility hosted their first big event- Sioux Center prom, with over 200 students in attendance. Vermeer said that many weddings are already booked for the coming months.The facility has been in the works for over 5 years, after the library expanded into the community center. Vermeer explains the overall reasoning behind the desire for the new event center.

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Hundreds of Sioux Center's community members visited Terrace View Event Center for the ribbon cutting and celebration on Thursday. Senator Randy Feenstra and Representative Dwayne Alons were in attendance.

Teen Charged as Adult in Sex Abuse Case

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Authorities say a teenager has been arrested in a sexual abuse investigation involving a family member in Sac County. Officials say a 17-year-old boy was charged as an adult with third-degree sexual abuse and incest on Friday. Investigators say a local doctor contacted the Sac County sheriff's office in Februaryto report the sexual assault of a girl. The Associated Press is not using the teen's name to protect the girl's privacy.

Researcher Challenges U of I Over Medical Discoveries

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - A University of Iowa researcher will square off against the nonprofit that manages the school's intellectual property in a trial over whether he was denied the chance to make millions off potential treatments he discovered for arthritis. Medical school professor Donald Macfarlane claims the UI Research Foundation managed the patents on his discoveries in a way that shut down his research and cut him out of a lucrative sale ofthe technology to a drug company. The Johnson County trial starts Tuesday. His attorney plans to ask jurors to award $25 million in lost income. That outcome could cripple the finances of the foundation, which reported $26 million in net assets in its latest tax filing. But one foundation board member says he's confident the group would successfully defend itself.

Storms Hit Northwest Iowa

(Le Mars) -- Shortly after three o'clock this afternoon, what was a calm day turned very quickly into a stormy day with tornado sightings in Sioux, O'Brien, Cherokee, and Clay counties. Le Mars may have missed the brunt of the storm damage, but we did receive some heavy rains. At the KLEM studios, our rain gauge showed that an inch and two tenths of rain fell within a 45 minute time span. Reports of tree limbs being down are reported in the Orange City and Alton areas. Also there was a report of walnut-size hail that fell on Craig this afternoon. Since the storm arrived at nearly the same time as school was to be dismissed, Dr. Todd Wendt, the superintendent of Le Mars Community Schools gave the order to hold the school children at the schools until the storm passed by.

KLEM's Angela Drake was in Alton during this afternoon's storm and has this report....

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